"Heat - or lack thereof"

So, yesterday was my 32nd birthday.  YIKES.  Sounds much older when I actually see it in writing. I had a very nice day and was wished a Happy Birthday by all the people whom I love and was taken out for a delicious lunch by my parents. This is the first time in 14 years that I have been in the same city with my parents, so that was special.  Jay also surprised me with a weekend get-away to the beach next weekend!  Lord only knows he and I both need a vacation.  Elijah Brooks is going with us and I am really excited for him to see the beach again.  This will only be the 2nd time he has seen the beach and he doesn't remember the 1st time.  I think it will be a fun weekend. 

Anyway, the day had been going very well until about 11:00 last night. I heard EB crying and went upstairs to check on him and noticed it was freezing cold in his room.  I had even put a pair of socks over his PJ's because I noticed the night before that he felt cold to me, but not as bad as last night.  I was really not too happy about the situation considering (per my other post a few days ago), we have a broken washing machine and several other unexpected financial things on our plate right now.  But that was not the most pressing issue last night..., getting my child warm again and back to sleep was the most pressing need.  Knowing that he couldn't sleep upstairs in that frigid room, we brought him downstairs and did something we have never done and said we would never do....., we put him in the bed with us, right in the middle, underneath the covers!  He immediately stopped crying and was very warm and toasty - but never went back to sleep!!  It was seriously the craziest thing I have seen...., he lay awake, right in the middle of us, and never once cried or tried to play for 4 HOURS!!   He said, "dada" and "mama" one time, but that was the only sound he made for 4 hours.  At 3:30am, after all 3 of us had lay there for 4 hours staring at the ceiling,  Jay went on a mad hunt for the space heater. He found the space heater and set it up in EB's room.  Since he was still awake - yet hadn't made a peep - Jay rocked him upstairs for a few minutes to see if he would drift back off to sleep. He finally just put him back in his crib (still awake), and as soon as he was in his crib he went sound to sleep...., just...., like....., that!  Why we didn't think about the space heater until 3:30am, we will never know. 

The whole night was kind of sweet in a really weird, frustrating, annoying, and deliriously exhausting way. 

Here's to a much warmer night in the Joye house and a lighter wallet! 

"Just in time for Spring"

This is what our weekend looked like..... 

Thank you Daddy, Bebe, and E-Daddy for my new swingset! 

Daddy in the beginning phases of building 

Elijah Brooks helping Daddy with the hammer and drill 

Bebe and E-Daddy putting the swing beam together 

Elijah Brooks testing out the slide...., on the ground 

The finished product from the back 

The finished product from the front 

Daddy and Elijah Brooks (of course he had to have a wheel to spin) 

E-Daddy and EB sliding 

Learning how to climb the ladder - I think it might be awhile :) 

Swinging with Bebe 

Happy Boy! 


HI!!!!  

"Our Budding Musician"...

I guess because I am a musician, my father is a musician, my mother is a musician, my sister is a musician (though she won't admit it), and several other of my family members are musicians - I am alittle more "in tune" (no pun intended there, seriously) to Elijah Brooks' developing musical skills.  He is already exhibiting signs of good rhythm and being able to mimic a certain pitch I sing.  I sing and play the piano alot at the house, so he is always hearing music. At Kindermusik last week, his teacher Mrs. Lisa (he calls her, "E"), brought her flute to do a demonstration for the children. The other 6 children in the class could have cared less about the flute. They were crawling around, paying attention to far more interesting things than a flute! Elijah Brooks on the other hand, was very interested in that silver, shiny instrument making new sounds. He stood about as close to Mrs. "E" as he could get and was very carefully inspecting each move she made with her fingers. I had to even move him back alittle bit because he was kind of invading her "personal space"! He seems to be particularly interested in the piano these days, and I don't mean he just sits up on the bench and bangs on the keyboard.  He recognizes high sounds and low sounds now and can point to the black keys and distinguish them from the white keys.  He recognizes that each note on the piano makes a different sound and is having such a good time exploring the sounds.  We sit together on the piano bench every day for a few minutes and he loves it.  He especially LOVES to hear his E-Daddy play, and will hardly let him play a note before he is begging to sit in his lap.  I have been particularly struck recently in how he actually plays the piano.  He is not banging on the keys, but rather he plays using 1 finger at a time.  It's really fascinating to watch him.  The other night, I sat him on the bench and just sat back to see what he would do (I SO wish I had had my video camera).  He started playing 1 finger at a time and was playing each note on the piano going up and down the scale, not skipping notes.  I started kind of freaking out - okay, really freaking out- and Jay came in there to see what in the world was wrong with me. He was also surprised to see what he had figured out on his own how to do and said he wouldn't have believed it had he not seen it with his own eyes.  Elijah Brooks obviously knew he was doing something pretty cool and that mommy was very pleased, and then he started doing it even more!  It's just so much fun to see the excitement in his eyes when he makes the sounds himself.  He is just as proud of himself as we are.  I love looking at these pictures of his fingers.  When he was born, the first thing I noticed about him were his LONG fingers. His hands are identical to mine, which are identical to my father's. 

I fully realize that not everyone cares about this as much as I do - but for all of you fellow musician friends out there, this one is for you! 

Got to write this stuff down and document it while I can still remember.

"Today"....

Is anyone else out there tired of leaving 4 messages for a repair man to return a phone call to tell you if he can repair your 6 year old washing machine that has a busted transmission - only to never hear back from him?  Seriously. Can't he even be courteous enough to call back and say he can't do it? How can a 6 year old washer have a broken transmission already - it's not like I run a laundromat at my house. I am sure it will cost upwards of $600 anyway. How about getting up to the check-out counter at the doctor's office only to be told that you owe $200 for something that you were never told the cost of in the first place - and they won't bill you for it, but require payment at the time of service? Or how about getting an AT&T bill that is $100 over the amount that you should be paying and you call the company and get re-routed 6 times, hung up on once,  and finally get a sales rep in the wrong department who says, "oh, were you never told this when you signed up"?  

Yeah, me too. 

Tomorrow is another day. 

"Happy 15 months Elijah Brooks"

My sweet boy is healthy again.  Turns out, his fever was just a 12 hour "fever virus" which never produced any other symptoms. He only ran fever Sunday and then woke up Monday morning like nothing ever happened.  Strange!   He went Tuesday for his 15 month appointment and still remains to be off the charts for his height and weight.  He is 33 1/2 inches tall and 28 lbs - 97% for both!  So very healthy and we are so thankful.  He had the whole doctor's office laughing (before shots of course), because we stripped him down to his diaper and he walked down the hall to stand on the scale.  This was the first time that he stood on the scale and wasn't in the "bucket scale".   He stepped right up and stood so still until is weight was calculated and then he just started clapping for himself!  He was so sad to have to get off of the scale, so his nurse let him stand on it again.  This time he had an audience watching him, which included several nurses, a few other children and some parents.  Everyone was clapping for him and he was so proud. His heart murmur was still detected, but the doctor didn't seem concerned at all - so neither are we.  He was checked out thoroughly by a cardiologist when he was 6 weeks old and it was noted that he has an "innocent murmur".  He may have it all of his life or it may just disappear one day.  Of course we need to keep a watch on it, but I am not going to worry without reason to worry. 

We've got a very healthy little boy and we rejoice in such a good report. 

"Sad Day".....

Happy Valentine's to all of you today!  I am really glad we decided to celebrate a few days ago, because my sweet boy woke up this morning with his very 1st fever. I have never experienced this before (thank God we have made it 15 months without a fever), but this may possibly be the saddest thing I have ever seen.  Daddy went on to church this morning, but I stayed behind to rock my baby and give him extra TLC.  He doesn't seem to have any other symptoms - at least not yet - but he is so lethargic and won't pick up his head. He has just been laying across me with his paci and lovies all morning.  He seems to feel too bad to even cry - he is still the sweetest boy in the world even when he feels bad. I just laid him in his bed and I think he fell sound asleep. 

I guess getting to hold my most treasured Valentine all day long isn't exactly the worst way to spend Valentine's Day.  

Please say a prayer for him today if you read this post. 

"Valentine's".....

Jay has been out of town all week at a conference and it has been freezing outside - so......, what does a mom do with a 15 month old?  Bake her own Valentine cookies and make homemade cards of course.  Kind of insane know that I think about it and actually write it down.  First let me say, I am about the most non-creative person on the planet I think.  I mean I am musically creative, so I guess that counts for something right?  Maybe not, I don't know.  But, I had this wild idea to try to make my own cookies and cards for Valentine's this year - something that I have never done I don't think.  I have this ridiculous inferiority complex when it comes to being a "creative mom", so I honestly can't believe I am actually posting these pictures of my "creations".  But one day I will want to remember what I did, so I am sucking up my pride and posting the pictures! 

I was completely prepared for this to be disastrous with a 15 month old "helping" me, but much to my surprise this was by far one of the most fun things we have done together.  He sat so still while I did his little fingerprints and was so excited to see his own handprints. He kept exclaiming, "hand, hand, hand"!  I was also not prepared for how much he was actually going to help me make the cookies.  He stood on a chair with me holding him, and he very gently placed the cookie cutter on the dough (made from scratch dough might I add)!  He was very meticulous with his cutting - so much like his mommy, whose Kindergarten picture has a caption underneath that says, "Erin is a very conscientious colorer"!!  He would turn the heart and bear shaped cookie cutter just the right way to get to perfect cookie without any direction from me.   Then I would say, "push down", and he would gently push the cutter into the dough and be thrilled with his creation.  He did enjoy putting a fingerprint in each of Jay's cookies  - I guess that was his own creative touch.   The sprinkles absolutely delighted him too!  What a fun way to surprise Jay when he arrived home the other night.  He was surprised first of all that Elijah Brooks helped me so much, but also surprised that I actually did a "project". 

So here I go, posting these pictures for all the world to see (okay, not really) - and will probably wonder tomorrow why I just put myself out there to be laughed at by all of you creative moms out there! 

Thumbprints in the shape of a bunny - supposed to be at least.  EB put the stickers on. 

Happy Valentine's Daddy (and EB's cookies). 

EB's cookie with a thumbprint right in the middle of it. 

\

EB's heart cookie with yet another thumbprint in the middle of it. 

Mommy's cookies! 

"SNOW"!

It snowed today - in Alabama!  How fun it was to wake up this morning, open the blinds and see rather large snowflakes falling outside - and actually sticking!  This was Elijah Brooks' 2nd time to see snow.  I doubt he remembers the 1st time because he was only 4 months old.  Needless to say, he enjoyed his 2nd snowfall much better. Enjoy the pictures! 

"Anything with wheels"...

Elijah Brooks all of a sudden, like any boy I suppose, loves trucks.  He has always loved wheels and has been spinning wheels since he was 3 months old.  His favorite toy as an infant was a little spinning palm tree.  He would hold that tree and spin it all day long - it was a diaper bag staple! That tree went everywhere with us.  So spinning things is not really a new thing to him. He was the child in Kindermusik class at 7 months old not sitting in the circle with me and the other children.  Where was Elijah Brooks you ask?  Spinning the wheels on the strollers parked in the corner of the room of course.  He investigates every single object to see if it has a wheel that he can spin.  It's almost abit of an obsession possibly - and it really makes me wonder what he is going to do when he grows up.  He turns over EVERY single toy to see if it has something he can spin. Everyone who knows him just knows that's "his thing" - spinning wheels. 

Where was I going with this post??  I think I started out talking about trucks - then somehow digressed to spinning wheels. 

Ah yes, trucks.  So today we went over to a new friend's house to play and Elijah Brooks fell in love with this little Tonka firetruck and police car that his new friend owned. It has cool flashing lights and 3 different (annoying) sounds - I mean who wouldn't love these?  Well, I had to practically rip it out of his hands when it was time to leave.  He didn't cry about leaving his new favorite toy, but on the way home he kept making siren sounds that sounded just like the trucks. I mean he had the same vocal inflection and everything.  Kind of scary actually. While we were at Wal-mart this afternoon..., NOT looking for trucks might I add...., I just so "happened" to find myself on the toy aisle and what did my eyes behold but the beloved Tonka firetruck and police car!  Me being the sucker that I am, grabbed both of the toys off of the rack and put them in my buggy.  Now realize we are on a strict budget and 2 Tonka trucks were NOT in my grocery budget today...., not even 1 Tonka truck was in my budget.  To buy my son these beloved toys would mean that I would have to make some pretty big sacrifices.  I would have to put back my bag of yummy yogurt covered raisins (my guilty pleasure - pretty pathetic I know), I couldn't get the pound of delicious deli sliced sandwich meat and would have to settle for the pre-packaged kind instead, and I would have to pass on the red, plump, juicy grapes that were calling my name on this grocery trip.  What a dilemma I was in!  

Were the sacrifices I made worth it in the end?  Absolutely YES. To see the look on my son's face when I "presented" him with his new trucks after his nap was priceless. I have never seen him more proud of something in his short little life. 

Silly? Maybe.  

Ridiculous? Maybe.  

Unwise? Maybe.  

Memory making?  Absolutely.  

Any regrets? Zero. 

"Hiding"

These are Elijah Brooks' 2 favorite "hiding" places.  He really thinks he is hidden and that I can't see him!  I love the sheer excitement and surprise on his face when I "find" him.  

Under the kitchen table 

Behind my curtains in our room 

"Daddy Time"....

With Jay's Ordination behind him he has more time to spend with us.  He still works so hard outside of the home and has some strange hours (it's ministry afterall - there really is no "day off"), but when he is here, he is ALL here.  He gives us his undivided attention as soon as he walks in the door. Eljiah Brooks has learned on his own to go wait by the window for Jay to come home.  I am amazed because he starts walking around the house close to 5:30 and starts saying, "daddy, daddy" - like he knows he is coming home at that time.  We have had more time with these exams behind us to enjoy some family time - all 3 of us together and I am so thankful. We have missed our Daddy and husband very much.